*** Official Clevo P151EM1 / Sager NP9130 Owner's Lounge ***

Yes you can upgrade the np9130 to the 675m graphics IF you buy the larger 180w power supply. You can also upgrade the CPU to i7 from i5.

 

Can anyone confirm that a keyboard backlight contributes a significant amount of heat, if any? I'm configuring a NP9150 that has it --- thanks!

 

Ohh. Thanks for the info. How come i cant find any video review of this rig?does someone even own a 9130?a video review would be highly appreciated


Currently:Macbook unibody 13.3 late 2008.
Getting a 6165 or a 6110 as soon as i see reviews when playing games!

 

Unclefred: There is no evidence to show that the keyboard makes the notebook run hotter. However, most people get 9150 instead of 9130 because of the availability of higher TDP GPUs such as the 675m or 7970m, which run hotter. Keyboard backlight is run by LEDs which is insignificant heatwise. However, do note that you cannot configure the 9130 with a backlit keyboard because of hardware limitations (missing power connector on the MoBo for the LEDs which 9150 has).

jpsm: There are video reviews by most resellers. You could ask them for links, cuz I'm too lazy to find them now. What I can say though, from personal experience, Diablo 3 runs on Ultra without any stutters, BF3 runs on Medium with Ultra textures at ~40-50 fps. You shouldn't worry that much about graphics, as any gaming class notebook will own Macs flat out.

 

Can anyone confirm the battery life on the Sager NP9130 with optimus? I'm hoping to get 4-5 hours out of it so I can use it for taking notes in college.

 

all i can see are 8130 reviews they say its about the same as the 9130.

 

You can easily get 4 hours if you turn down your screen brightness, turn off WiFi and Bluetooth, ensure that your Intel Processor is enable in the nVidia control panel, and make sure the HDDs you're not using are off.

 

just ordered my new P151EM1! i got the 95% screen with color calibration from xotic cant want to see how beautiful it looks
since there seems to be a lack of video reviews on this model i may do one

 

I just got mine yesterday. I installed windows today. I'll take pictures... I know lots are looking for them. I'm going to get around to installing steam probably tomorrow. Shoot requests and I'll see what I can do.

Configured as below in sig.

 

Review Alienware M17x R4 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

Review Clevo P170EM Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

I feel sorry for amd. Nvidia have put mid range power hungry cards and are selling them. I thought nvidia would not even sell a 670m or 675m but somehow so many people are buying it even more then the 7970m it seems.

Imagine amd we have 1.8x to 2x performance and a lot less power consumption and yet people buy nvidia. Crazy if you ask me. A 670m and 675m is already oputdated by a big way. Nvidia failed hence why the kepler gt 640m 650m and 660m are so close as they put the 670m and 675m which are also close bunced together.

Anyway safe to say if you get a 7870m you should get the same performance as a 670m or 675m and take around 60w less when maxing games.

 

The 670m is basically an oc'd 570m.

 

Can the np9130 be updated to the AMD? Or is it even worth it.

 

It seems very likely that the 7870m will have a lower TDP than the 670m, as well as using less power (I haven't seen exact figures for either card, however, which may just be because I'm not looking in the right place), while providing extremely similar performance to the 670m. If we can find a MXM 3.0b 7870m, I expect that it's fairly likely that it could be installed in a P151EM, assuming that the BIOS supports it (there's been a lot of noise lately about the implementation of MXM that Clevo uses having issues, and possibly using a whitelist, which may be preventing people with the older HM models from upgrading to the 7970m).

It might be worth it - getting the same performance while putting off much less heat and using less power is quite appealing, especially as it would leave a lot of room for overclocking. Personally, if someone confirms that it works and I'm able to find a card for less than $300, I would be very tempted.

 

I've read somewhere that there are 2 distinct chipsets for nVidia and AMD due to optimus support, ie. notebooks preconfigured with a nVidia card cannot be swapped out for an AMD one and vice versa.

Can anyone confirm if this is true or just hearsay?

 

According to the Wikipedia article on Optimus, it's entirely driver-based. Considering that AMD's Enduro has been confirmed to be working on the P150EM, while Clevo only lists as supporting Optimus, it seems likely that it does not depend on a specialized motherboard chipset.

I haven't really dug into the details of either one, however.

 

Is there any way to upgrade this laptop's PSU to support a GTX 675M? Just curious, since the NP9150 can (but the ghosting problem with the WEspace keys makes it annoying to play WoW, so I might opt out of it)

 

Yes you can upgrade the psu and install the 675. I am pretty sure bios will accept it.

 

Hey everyone, after some intense internal deliberation with myself, I've become very partial to the 9130 and its supposed upgradeability. Previous comments seem to confirm that getting a 180 watt AC adapter can get you ready for using a higher end card like the 675m, but what if I want to bump this up to a 7970m in the future? Is the AC adapter enough? Will Clevo's bios and hardware policy hold me back?

Also, the 9150 lists the 3920XM as an option, and while I don't plan on getting it ASAP, the close price of i7-3XXX models on the aftermarket outside of that make upgrading to that point very attractive. Will anything aside from the PSU hold me back from making such an upgrade for the 9130 in the future?

 

How? Where would I purchase the PSU, and what do I need to do to upgrade it?

 

I'm just curious, has anyone tried using an alternative PSU to the stock PSU? It does not have to be 180W, 120W will suffice.

I'm looking at something to chuck into my portable kit; lighter weight and slimmer profile is preferred. I'm not so sure about the voltage required; I think the 9130 requires 20v/6amp, please confirm.

I see a few options for 120v:-
Kensington 120W Slim AC/DC Notebook Power Adapter Review
NB Q120 PLUS | NB Q Series | Adapter | FSPLifeStyle
USNA 120 - Cooler Master - Leading Provider of Computer Case | Cooler | Power Supply

Question is, which one of the above has a tip that fits the 9130?
Are there any users that has tried using one or has a similar intention to go portable?

 

That was a problem regarding the HM models, not the EM.

 

I found out my voice was nasally today. I did a short size comparison between the W110ER and P151EM here:

Short Clevo W110ER / P151EM Comparison - YouTube

 

Ordered my Sager 9130 on 31 May. Went with I7 processor upgrade, dropped ram to 8GB of 1333z(gonna upgrade the ram and HDD after summer), picked up the 6235 wireless card. Already sent to build phase. Then yesterday Microsoft dropped the windows 8 upgrade news. Hope I can qualify for this.

Can't wait to get this machine in and play with it

 

Is there any instructions or something that can tell me where and/or how to install the msata?

 

I would assume not because of how simple it is to install an msata SSD there. Just open the back and insert the card like a mPCIe card.

Sent from my GT-I9100

 

Oh, that's good enough info for me. I just didnt really know it it located on top or bottom.

 

I bought this computer today. However for college, I feel like I need a backlit keyboard, have I made a mistake? I know this computer doesn't have a backlit keyboard but will I be fine?

 

Do you plan on going to classes with pitch black rooms, or work in a dorm with absolutely no lighting sources? I understand there are situations where a backlit keyboard can be handy, like during ppt presentations and if your roommate's catching up on z's and you're grinding out a paper late into the night, but I'm pretty confident that backlit keys is not a necessity for college. Save the $150 or so for ram or ssd upgrades.

 

Can anybody gets Tribes ascend working on their 9130? I made a support ticket @ the Tribes website and they said it was a driver issue.

 

Im looking into buying this computer in the next week or so and I was wondering how the 95% NTSC Color Gamut Matte screen on this model looks and is it worth the extra to get the 95% gamut?

Thanks

 

I'm sitting here with my stock matte screen I can say that I'm pretty happy with what I have. It's definitely more than your average screen that you might find in low-end models form Dell, HP, Toshiba and Lenovo.

95% gamut screen will be most beneficial if you need you have an accurate color display for applications like photography. I also suggest you do your own research of potential drawbacks of 95% gamut screen as well to fully understand if you really need it. I was in the same dilemma for a while before I decided on the stock screen.

 

Thanks for the input Seus. Now I just have to decide if I should put that money towards the NP9150 and its backlit keyboard or save it and get the NP9130.

 

Get the 9150 if you intend to or want the option to upgrade the GPU in the future.

The backlit keyboard should not affect your decision to drop a couple more hundred into upgrading the notebook as (1) the backlit keyboard in the 9150 has known ghosting problems i.e. the "e" button (go search in the 9150 owners lounge to get a better understanding of the problem), and (2) the fact that it only adds to the aesthetic value of the notebook. Being a gamer, you should be familiar with touch typing and should not need a backlit keyboard to type, even in the dark. If you want something bling, go for alienware, not clevo.

However, I do concede that the resale value of the notebook increases with the backlit keyboard, but hey, unless you are thinking of selling it after a year or so, it isn't necessary.

 

I see this a lot and I understand the sentiment in terms of the 9150 having the larger power supply to do so, but come next year, isn't it likely that there may be new GPUs in the same range as the 660m/670m that we could upgrade to?

I hope that this is the case as I'm leaning towards the 9130 myself simply because of price and if I can safely upgrade the GPU in a consistent fashion, I think I'd be set.

 

It is extremely likely that there will be newer, more powerful GPUs with similar power requirements to the 660M or 670M in a year or two; right now, AMD's 7870M offers performance right between the 660M and 670M while using about half as much power. If the P151EM's BIOS includes a whitelist, though, it is somewhat more questionable whether Clevo will update it to include support for newer GPUs - there was a lot of noise about the HM series not being updated to support the 7970M recently, though I'm unsure of whether that issue has been resolved.

 

Anybody with helping me get Tribes working? I'm not sure what video drivers to try out...

http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/44971

I don't see 670M listed anywhere in this page.

 

nVidia does not have any official drivers on their website that support the majority of the 6-series graphics cards at this present time.

The best you can do is utilize the drivers that came with your laptop.

 

Not really sure what to do - the support team told me it was a driver issue. The game won't launch at all. Might be a problem with optimus, i'm not sure.

 

is this labtop heavy at all? cuz the description says 6.83 pounds with the battery..

 

Which Tribes game are you playing? Is it Tribes Ascend?

Have you tried any of the suggestions from these sites? SOLVED Tribes: Ascend Graphics Issue | Laptop n Driver
or
How To Fix Tribes: Ascend nVidia Optimus Crash | Ask to Us

 

They do feel a little hefty, but not terrible.

It's not quite Alienware heavy but not really MSI light in terms of weight.

That is about the best way I can describe it. It might be better to go to a sporting goods store and get a 5lb or 6lb weight to get an idea.

 

Yes, Tribes ascend. I tried the suggestions in both of the mentioned links above but it still crashes as the game launches. Good thing I didn't spend 60$ on this game lol. Oh well, Diablo 3 works perfectly.

 

Mine just moved out of production into shipping! It's going by way of XoticPC's facility in Nebraska, though, which will probably add a few days before I get it, but hopefully I'll have it midway through next week. If it arrives on Thursday (June 14th), it will have been exactly a month since ordering, which would be somewhat amusing.

I'm actually a bit surprised at how patient I'm being; I certainly was much more anxious when I ordered my last laptop, though admittedly I didn't have a functional computer at that time.

 

Almost with ya , thanks for your patience! Once it gets to us we'll ship it to you and include a tracking number then.

 

The HM + 7970M issue was resolved, or rather it wasn't a problem, Sager tested and gave a report saying that it works fine.

But the question about the P151EM1 being or not upgradable is still a little nebulous, Clevo says that it isn't possible (actually Sager says that Clevo says that the P151EM1 isn't approved for 100W TDP GPU, I insisted with Sager's technical support and they said that Clevo says that it is a mother board limitation, though they don't know exactly what is the limitation in the mother board, nor did they performed any kind of test themselves)...

On the other hand Mythlogic seems to have tested installing the GTX 675M in it, and they said that if you just change the 120W PSU for a 180W PSU (used in the NP9150), you can make the GPU upgrade.

I would like a second opinion on that, but so far no other retailer or reseller has made any test... Or at least hasn't said anything about it.

 

Not sure if this is the best thread to link this but I always come in here hoping for pics/videos of the 9130 so I figured this is as good a place as I can think of.

Anyways, was looking around the other day and saw the XoticPC recently put up a video review for the 9130. Always love their reviews and it's basically solidified my resolve to getting one of these so I hope it's helpful!

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6KtYQ0Qr4xU?version=3&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6KtYQ0Qr4xU?version=3&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width='500' height="281" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

Edit: Not sure how to embed it or I would, sorry!
Edit2: Googled it!

 

For 9130 owners with 670m, have you checked your fan speed? Nvidia control panel didnt come with fan control on sager's custom drivers apparently, and gpu fan speed is stck at 100%. Anyone else experience this with gpu-z or similar programs?

Even evga and afterburner didn't do anything. Once on auto fan speed goes to 0%. So it's either 0 or 100.

 

Even if the P151EM1 is not supposed to handle 100 watt TDP GPU's (even if they actually work) can GPU's with less than a 100 watt TDP be installed in the future? The P151EM1 is only limited to lower powered graphics cards but it is still upgradable right?

 

I would like to know this, as well. I ordered my 9130 on June 4th, I really wished that could have shipped with a 660m over the 670 - I would've taken the 15 percent performance hit for the decreased thermal output.

I actually would look for a sub 100 watt 7 series GPU from AMD in order to improves my chances of dual booting/hackintosh.

Is there any MXM 3 option other than the 7970m that will behave inside the 9130? Or, is the 7970m absolutely a no go within the 9130? This might cause me to return for a 9150/70 to remove any doubt about the issue.

 

Yea 100W GPU's will work (Need bigger AC adapter), but any 75W or less GPU will work just fine.

We can do a P151EM with 660m's in them. Have one on the bench right now. You can do a 7970m in a P151EM you just need to have a higher AC adapter (180W)